Laying tiles additional costs

Hello dear ones,

we are currently building a single-family house turnkey through a local construction company. In principle, a fully tiled ground floor, as well as a tiled staircase and of course the bathroom, are included in the price.

We have now chosen tiles and for the hallway as well as the living and dining area about 50 sqm, as well as the staircase (22 sqm), these are on the one hand large format and also more expensive, but the other tiles are even slightly (not worth mentioning) cheaper than the price quoted by the developer.

Pure material additional costs come to almost 5000 euros. Unfortunately, the net tile price was given to us by the tile dealer, otherwise I would probably have reconsidered at 95 euros per sqm, but now we have fallen in love with the tile because it really looks like wood.

In addition, about 1000 euros for the additional tiles for the utility room (I find the price completely okay, that’s what I expected)

Moreover, it was completely clear to me that laying the large format tiles would cost more.

That’s why I generously calculated additional costs of 7000-8000 euros for myself (although I had calculated with slightly lower material costs)

But ....

the offer really shocked me now.

almost 12,000 euros

about 35 euros extra for laying the large format tiles, I think they are 120 x 20

plus about 7 euros per meter for water jet cutting.

in addition, the tiles we thought were rectified as standard and the tiler also wants about 23 euros more for laying them.

In addition, there are now stainless steel edge profiles instead of the included plastic edge profiles, but in addition to the material additional costs, about 33 euros per meter are also charged for installation.

(about because I have not converted the prices from net to gross exactly by cents)

The additional prices seem very high to me, also regarding what I have read on the internet. Or is that realistic after all?

The posts I found were already quite old.

That’s about right. We don’t know the included tile price. Also, the craftsman can decide how much markup to charge. We had inquired about it beforehand, but it was only 30/60, and those were included. Nevertheless, for us, the living room etc. with tile trims and stainless steel corners still cost over 10,000€... Since you are tied to the general contractor, you are stuck with that craftsman. Alternative: remove the tiling completely from the scope of work, but a freelance craftsman is often not cheaper either.

So the included tile price is just the installation for normal 30x60 tiles with a gross price up to 30 euros. Except for the 50 sqm living dining hallway area, we have chosen exactly such tiles. Only the lady at the showroom did not point out that these tiles have rectified edges and that this then costs 23 euros more per sqm for installation.

In general, she did not disclose any additional costs for certain types of tiles, despite inquiries.

We will probably have to go back to the showroom and choose again. At 10,000 euros in additional costs, that is my absolute pain threshold.

Unfortunately, they could not offer us a single alternative wood-look tile in oak look that would match the tone of the stairs and the door frames.

I don’t know now either.

Unfortunately, they could not offer us a single alternative wood-look tile in oak look

Does it help you if you don’t match the floor to the doors? Doors white smooth, contrast on the floor e.g. via wood look, wood-colored doors, solid-colored tile structure.

Only the door frames are wood and the doors are white. I like it. In addition, the staircase with oak steps, the kitchen partly with oak decor. Furniture corpus oak, doors white. Tiles in a grayish or reddish wood tone simply do not fit there. Actually, I don't like any tiles in the living room, but given the fact that you also go from the living room to the terrace/garden, I no longer want parquet flooring and I realize that tiles are the most sensible option.

This is not our first house, we built a townhouse 6 years ago.

huh? rectified tiles shouldn't make laying them more expensive. The edges are straighter, so the clean job will actually be easier...